This is Staying on
by Shadow Hakida
Summary: The following are the events of a future virus from Mexico, no one bellow the military knew or understood what was going on, this group of people had fun with it before the cure.
1. Chapter 1

The morning came silently and calmly, like every other day, there wasn't much to do. Other than go to school and come back home, I had little to do.

I blew the smoke into the air and waited for the bus. Lately I wasn't smoking so much, I had promised myself not to smoke as often for my birthday. People asked me why I didn't quit completely, all I said was the only way I would quit is if guys started coming in cigarette flavor. Totally in love with Stevie Wonder, I had been listening to it all week and I wasn't planning on stopping. And finally the bus arrived. It went past my stop twice but catching it the first time it came was better since I was able to find a seat, not like waiting for the second passing. It went all over to pick up some other kids I knew I would never talk to, nor know the names of. Which always ticked me, but whatever. When the bus passed my spot again, some other kids got on and the bus started up the road to a friends' stop. He certainly stood out, black hair covering his blue eyes and almost neon blue outfit. I took out an ear bud. "Oi, what's up, you look tired." My voice just as bored as his face. "Whatever, I didn't get a smoke today and I'm really pissed. That asshole keeps talking to me, he is so annoying." I knew who he was talking about, some kid named Geovoni… or whatever. "Ah yeah. Just tell him to leave you alone. Der." He looked over to me, his face said, girl, don't you tell me what to do. "I've already done that but I feel bad." I rolled my eyes. "Jarrid… you are way too nice." Now he rolled his eyes. "Whatever." I put my ear bud back in.

As the bus pulled into the parking lot I gathered my bag and lunch. I had been brown bagging it all year. Before I could talk to anyone I went up the stairs to my locker. Every morning I put my lunch and bag into it before I did anything else. During class, I kept myself busy by writing. Most of the time in 5th period, I would fall asleep if we were doing something unimportant. But by the end of the day I was too tired and pissed to do much more than crawl home from the bus and lay down, play on my laptop and nap. The next day was pretty much the same, although everyone seemed more irritable than usual. By Friday, I couldn't say anything to anyone without them somehow lashing out at me physically. It was extremely odd. The only people not going insane were my sister, Rachael, and Jarrid. So, when I got home that day, my mother was sleeping and I decided it was a good idea. I had to finish my homework, knowing I would probably sleep the rest of the day, or something. So when I finished, I went up to my room, since it was cool enough outside to do so. Winter had just begun to set in and I was extremely relieved.

The morning came silently and calmly, like every other day, there wasn't much to do. Other than go to school and come back home, I had little to do.

This morning was silent and barren. Half the kids in the entire school were gone. Yet, none of the adults would say anything. In every class, a student would ask what was going on. Each day, it seemed one more student was gone, absent, sick, had moved. It didn't seem right. I conspired with my closest friends, most of which were still normal, and at school. We were to break into the school and look in the class rooms and office to see if we could find information. That never happened. A month went by, they were too scared, or busy. I couldn't go alone or just with two other people. So, I gave up. No one would talk about it after a few more days, like they were told to hush up. Though, I knew they still didn't know much more than I did.

The morning came silently and calmly, like every other day, there wasn't much to do. Other than go to school and come back home, I had little to do.

Except, something felt wrong…


	2. Chapter 2

It was too silent and the house seemed stiff. I looked around for a moment. I somehow knew the silence would be shaken out of its sweetness. Suddenly my mother burst through the door and went on to attack me. She placed her hand on my throat and choked me. Her eyes her wrong and her hands were cold. Her strength was crushing but I closed my eyes and somehow slipped out of her grip. At that moment I was thankful for my sleek, smooth skin. Before she could catch me, I ran down stairs and grabbed a knife out of the holder. When she had caught up to me, I didn't waste a single moment and threw it through her eye. She immediately stopped and fell to the ground. I couldn't believe what just happened. I knew what was going on. It just all made sense now. I always thought I would want something like a zombie apocalypse to happen. But not like this. This was simply too much. Maybe it wasn't like that. Maybe she just got sick and attacked me. In that case it would just be self defense and I would be fine. I picked up my cell phone and dialed. No one answered. 911, and no one answered. Tears fell from my eyes. I didn't know what to do. So, I pulled myself together after about an hour. I changed into thick pants, thick long sleeve, turtleneck and a bandana wrapped over half my face. I put the knife I had used between my belt and pants. Then took another knife, in its sheath, and attached it to a large pocket on my right leg. I grabbed a rifle and a small shot gun my grandmother had, wherever she was, and put the rifle in a large holster she also had and placed the hand gun in my back pocket. Before I did anything else, I stopped to think. 'Why am I so calm about this? Is this really what I felt about my mother and family? How come I'm not breaking down, losing my mind.' But then I realized, it was because I loved my mother and that I knew how to protect myself and that I needed to protect my sister and friend. I grabbed my music player and sun glasses, knowing I would have to walk to both of their homes, I couldn't risk texting, although I took my laptop, charger and phone and phone charger. Once I walked outside with my two bags full of extra ammunition and all sorts of objects I wanted, I noticed my grandmothers' car. So, I went back inside, grabbed her car keys and walked back outside.

I got to the car and noticed her walking around, in a way she never had before. Something was up, so I placed everything in the back, carefully closed it and walked up to her, a hand on the knife I used on my mother. A strange sound came from her as I got closer, she hadn't noticed me yet. But as I got closer to the back of my house, she saw me. Her teeth were bloody, as if she had eaten raw meat. She ran towards me, I jumped back and pulled the knife out. Without hesitation, I lunged towards her and impaled her through the stomach. She fell to the ground, but she didn't stop moving, so I ran for the car and got in. I called Jarrid and started the car. He picked up the phone, he sounded terrified. "Hello?" I answered in an instant. "I'm coming to get you, are you ok?" He sounded like he was pushing someone out of the way. "No, I'm stuck in my room, the door's about to break down, what's happening?" I couldn't tell him exactly what was going on, I didn't know, but I got the gist of it. "It's… it's a zombie…" He screamed. "Ok! I get it! Hurry!" I pulled out of the drive and floored it. I arrived at his house three or four minutes later. The door was open so I went in and saw them right away. "Hey, you!" I got their attention. They ran after me, they weren't very fast, just like the others, but still, they ran. I grabbed the knife, I wasn't ready to use those bullets yet. Before Jarrid could run out, I had killed both of them.

He was in shock as we sat in the car. "Why did this happen? Sure now that I think about it, it was leading up to this, but, why did it even start?" He looked at me, I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing and turned my head back to the road. "Call Rachael. See if she's alive." She didn't answer. "I still have to make sure." He pleaded. "Look, what if she is a zombie? She's very strong, she would kill us." I didn't care. "Kyra… fine, let's go." I sighed and pulled into the drive of her apartment complex. As we got out I handed him the hand gun. "You know how to use it?" He stared at her door. "I'll figure it out." I nodded and held the longer knife which I had unsheathed. He opened the door, everything was silent. He stayed just at the foot of the stairs to keep watch while I walked upstairs. When I arrived at the top, something was moving in the room next to hers. I opened it to see her smaller half sister moving around. She had been changed too, when she saw me, she ran towards me. She was dead before I opened the front door. After I made sure she wasn't going to get up again, I went to Rachael's room and knocked. A noise arose from the other side, something like a whimper and a hush. So, I opened it as much as I could. She was sitting in the corner, a chair in front of the door. "Rachael, it's me. It's ok. I'm not one of them, come on Jarrid is waiting. Rachael got up and moved the chair. Her sandy blonde hair still looked wet from a shower, her dog, Sam, cowering in fear behind her. "Thanks for coming." We walked back to the car, with all of their luggage in the back with mine, there was little room left. We all had clothes and personal care in our bags and decided to pick up soap where ever we could and share it. "Well, the tank is at half, let's fill it up." They nodded.

Rachael had brought her personal guns and the ones that belonged to her family, so I didn't need to worry about her, though I still did. "Alright, I'm gonna check inside, see if there's any normal people there. I'll be back, don't get out." I left, knowing they could take care of themselves, but I suppose in the situation I took charge. Inside, it was empty. No one was there. They were probably in the back. When I checked, they were around the corner. Carefully I left the back room without them noticing, I didn't need to kill more dead people than I had to. Before leaving I grabbed water jugs and bottles and some food, I didn't want anything too junk-food like. We were going to be out there for a while. I got back out and they had started filling up the car with gas. "They're in the back, I was lucky not to disturb them." Rachael nodded. Suddenly, she pulled her gun, and pointed it at me. "Don't move. " I put my hands up. "Hey…" She shot. Something behind me fell to the ground. I turned and saw it was one of them, apparently they had noticed. Once the car was full, I opened the door. "Come on, it's cold even with thick clothes on." Just before I got in, I asked. "Anyone wanna drive?" They shook their heads, I laughed and got in. "Cowards." I smiled and looked at them. For some reason, the life was taken out of them. "H-hey… what's wrong?" Jarrid seemed offended. "What's wrong?" I had left the parking lot and passed the street to Rachael's house. "What do you mean what's wrong? You just killed your mother, my grandparents and Rachael's little sister, and nothing's wrong?" I stopped the car. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think I would react this way either. But I did what I did because they were already dead. And you would've been if I didn't do what I did." Jarrid closed his eyes. "Fine… I hated them anyway…" The rest of the drive to a friends' house was silent. When we reached the drive way to Courtney's house, I finally spoke. "Rachael… I'm sorry… but I had to. I wish I didn't but I would've rather saved someone who was alive than try to get myself killed running away from that thing." I saw Rachael nodding in the rear-view mirror. "How is Sam?" Rachael answered. "He's doing better." I nodded. "Jarrid can you go open her gate?" I handed him the hand gun again. "Sure."


	3. Chapter 3

We arrived in front of her house, I had called a few minutes earlier, with an answer. Courtney was alive and so was her mother. "Look, I don't have any more room for luggage or people, take your fathers' truck. Is the top still on the back?" They nodded. "Alright, well we'll put the luggage in the back and split the food, you have any you can bring?" Again, they nodded. "Good, bring it out and we'll organize the back of the truck." They backed it out of the garage after I moved and opened the back. "And make sure to bring any weapons you have, skimp on the melee weapons, we don't wanna take those risks." Usually her mother was more… motherly and grown up, but she was scared and fragile, so I stuck with being in charge. "Rachael, Jarrid, put your luggage on the left side, I will too. Leave room for them. Besides, we have a lot more people to get. I wish they had more room in that truck…" I checked the fuel, it was full too.

Finally, they emerged from the house, several bags in hand. "What do you have? Nothing you don't need I hope?" They nodded. "We have ammunition." Her mother pointed to four of the large bags. "They'll fit with almost any gun we get. And our clothes and cleaning products." I looked in the bag she had pointed to with the 'cleaning' products. "We aren't bringing soap. You can bring conditioner and anything else, no soap. We're going to get soap later, whenever we need it." Courtney clutched the bag. "But I need my soap." I sighed and closed my eyes. "No. We can't waste any room we can preserve. Any garbage bags? We'll need those, and some more bandages if you have any that you didn't grab." They had quite the immense amount of bandages and the like. "Alright, good. Courtney, how are you at driving yet?" Her mother looked worried. "I'm fine, I suppose." "Good. You're going to drive, your mother is in no condition to-" Her mother interrupted. "Excuse me. I don't want her driving, it's too dangerous." I looked at her. "What is she going to run into? There aren't any cops, it's a zombie apocalypse. Besides, you look tired. Please rest." I kept my voice down so they wouldn't become irrational. "Did you get your pets?" Courtney nodded. I was relieved to know that Rachael and Jarrid stayed silent. "Alright, let's go. I've already called for Desiree, she's gathering all weapons, and the like she can right now." I pulled out in front of them and told them to follow me. "I told Desiree to gather as many walkie talkies as she could. So, if they don't work, or she can't find them we'll have to go to _that_ store." Jarrid answered. "Ok. Hey do you think there will be anything on the radio about this?" I shrugged, "Why don't you check?" He turned it on and pressed the seek' button. There was one. '_Officials have no idea what is going on-'_ Suddenly, the station changed. "H-hey turn it back." I pushed the back button right after saying that. '_Apparently it spread through beef. Officials are trying to contain the infected areas but they do not know where they all are.'_ "Alright so no beef whether it's from a store or in a package just to be safe." They nodded. "We'll have to remember to tell them." Rachael murmured. I pulled up in front of Desiree's house. "Arm yourselves." Rachael and I walked in, Jarrid stayed with Courtney and her mother, keeping them safe. "Desiree?" She walked out from her room, drunk and tired. "Hey we don't need you overdosing. Come on. I swear if you took anything I will kill you before the pills do." She shook her head. "Nope, they took 'em. Since their dead, I can't find 'em." I took her arm. "Did you pack?" She didn't respond for a moment. "Yup. Then I found these, you know I have an eye for 'em." I rolled my eyes, what was with her and beer? "Rachael." She answered. "What?" I handed Desiree over to her. "Don't let Courtney's mother see her, she will ride with us." Rachael nodded and took her to the car. "You ok with the luggage?" I looked in her room. There were seven medium sized bags. "Nope, it's ok. Two trips, easy." And it was. Two trips later, all the luggage was in the truck. Desiree was in the back, Sam in the very back, where we had put the other seats up for him. "Sam ok there?" Rachael looked back. "He should be fine, we should get some food for him soon, though." I nodded. "Yup, it's going to be a busy day. Good thing everyone at the mall had already opened it up." She laughed. "We should pick up some big blankets. Those we'll need in all the cars." Jarrid sighed. "What?" He shook his head. "Come on, what?" He didn't have time to answer before I remembered something. "We need to go back to my house." He looked over. "Why?" "Eric. I don't have his number, but my mother did."


	4. Chapter 4

We pulled into the parking lot of my house. "Stay here, all of you. I'll be back..." I closed the door and pulled my knife out. I had left the front door open, so the dead could've come inside. No one was there, to my knowledge. I grabbed her phone and ran upstairs to get the car charger and left. I opened the phone and found his number. Not a moment was wasted before I pressed the call button. He was loyal to my mother, to everyone really, and answered right away. He had just woken up and didn't know anything was going on. He didn't know where his brother was, or his parents. They had disappeared, almost like they just didn't exist anymore. "Just get up and pack. Bring anything we'll need, man." I knew he wasn't an idiot, but I had just killed my mother, and couldn't bear to tell him, so I was allowed to be bossy. "Hey, why are you driving? And why are you using your moms' phone?" My eyes watered. "Just hurry, I'm almost there…" I hung up. His neighborhood was not a good one. His parents had had to line their home with metal plates to stop bullets from coming through so I knew that area would be crawling with _them_. "Alright," I pulled into the drive "here it is. Be careful, take your weapons. Jarrid, I want you to keep an eye on both cars. Rachael, lets' go." We got out and went to his door and knocked, within a matter of minutes, he opened the door. "Give me a minute, be careful, I found them." I sighed. "It seems everyone is becoming one of them, why aren't we…?" He finished packing and threw his bass over his shoulder. "Hey, zombies or no zombies its my first bass." I smiled. "Hey, don't worry, you can put it next to mine in the truck." He nodded and walked out. "What ya got, Eric?" I opened the back of the truck. "Couple rifles, handguns, swords." I didn't see the relevance of swords, but they were still weapons. "Alright. Put your stuff on this side." I pointed to the back left. "K…"

Something wasn't being said. "We have to get a few more people, if they're still people. Then we should find somewhere safe…" Eric had chosen to sit in the back. "Well, I don't mind, not like I need to go to work." He smirked. "Very funny." I couldn't help but laugh a little as well. "Tell Courtney we're going to Ruby's. She'll ride with her." Rachael picked up the walkie talkie and informed them. Ruby lived on the edge of town, out where all the farmers were. No one answered any of the phones, but living all the way out there, they weren't in much danger. Just before we reached their gravel driveway, we came across a hoard of them. Of course, almost like a movie, they noticed us and began to scratch at the windows. "Ah man not the paint!" I grabbed the radio. "Back up, until it'll take 'em a few minutes to reach us." Right away she began to back up as quickly as she could, me right behind her. Finally, there was some considerable distance between us and them. "Don't be stingy with the ammo. Shoot for the head, Eric, you already know so whatever. In this situation melee is a last resort. We can always get more ammunition, we can't get more of you." All the while everyone, including myself, was getting out and arming themselves. Again, I felt I was in a movie, we all stood next to each other, waiting for them. Anything to distance them from a good friend, I fired the first shot and took one down. Eric perched atop the truck and used his sniper rifle, he would be like a back up, while Courtney watched his back since she wasn't good with guns yet, she used a long sword and stayed out of the way of the rest of us.

Every shot, pulling down on the trigger, was both like an anger release, but in turn killed a small piece of my soul. These used to be people, they used to be alive. But the moment their souls left the bodies which they were born with, they became abominations before the eyes of God. And why did this happen? '_Bang_' Because of selfish people, selfish governments, selfish countries, bringing the plague upon the earth, one which the human eye was never to see. '_Bang_' This something was not meant to be fathomed. '_Bang_' My wholeness was no longer important, theirs was. The very people I was protecting at that very moment, and the next one and the next. '_Bang Bang Bang…_'The crowd of them lessened. I yelled over the gun fire, "I'm going to the house! Someone, cover me." I ceased fire and ran through the thinned out crowd, someone behind me, shooting the ones I didn't. The house was a short two hundred feet away, someone walked out. She was short, her skin glazed and brown. It was her, finally I knew she was alright, tears running down her face. I reached the house, mere steps away from the porch. She pointed a small hand gun at me. "Ru-Ruby…" I struggled to catch my breath. "It's alright, it's just me. Your safe now." She shook her head. "No… we're all going to die…" She looked up, there was something in the distance. I turned to see an even larger amount of them coming over the mountain. "We may be the only ones… my gun isn't loaded, I'm going to die." I looked at her. "No." With that, I ran into the house, found her clothes and threw some in a bag.


	5. Chapter 5

Moments later I emerged, Jarrid standing with Ruby. "Let's go, we don't stand a chance against that many." I slung the bag over my shoulder and ran behind Jarrid, making sure both of them didn't get left behind. When he reached the car and got Ruby in the truck, the hoard was close, almost on top of us. "Eric, you still have those…" I couldn't say it aloud, no one needed to be more frightened than they already were. "Yup." I turned and floored it, grabbing the radio. "Courtney hurry, stay on my tail. Good, we're gonna get some distance and you can set one." He stayed silent and held onto the safety handle. Randomly, it came to my attention that I hadn't kept tabs on Rachael's dog. "Rachael, is Sam still alright?" She answered quietly. "He'll survive, a little scared though." Once that thought wasn't gnawing at my mind, I could think again. I didn't stop until we reached the stop light a good three or four miles away from them. "Courtney, keep going another mile and wait. "Radio silence unless you hear me." She went around me and sped away. "I grabbed everything we needed, so I don't want them in the way, let's go." Eric jumped out and grabbed a large box on the floor. "How long do you need?" He inspected it and looked at me. "Five minutes." I nodded and stood in front of him, waiting for them. We were calling unneeded attention to ourselves, so I knew there would be ones from anywhere. Nothing came, it was all clear and he set the time. "We have ten minutes." He looked over to the approaching crowd. They were no more than ten minutes away. "Oh predictions…"

We ran to the car and left to where Courtney had gone. "Courtney… Courtney. Is your radio on?" No answer. It was seven and the sun was going down, everything had happened to me and that was the most terrifying three minutes of my life, before we passed them and came back into range. She had gone farther than I thought, but she was safe and began to follow. I couldn't think of anyone else we could get to, or that would be alive. So, all we could do was head to a store, which consisted of Wal-Mart. There was a church we had to pass before getting to the store, it was large and stoic. Even if you weren't looking in its direction, any one would notice it. Every time I went by it in the past, its doors were closed, its entirety enveloped in silence. But, this time, as we passed it, one of the gates had been opened. Someone was there and the curiosity ate away at me. "Hey, we're going to pull into the parking lot of the church, I wanna check something out." I put the radio down and slowed. The turn came sooner than I had expected and quickly forced a sharp turn. The lot was on the left side of the church, so, if there was anything in there, it would probably see us. As I pulled in, I saw something in the corner of my eye move, but I knew it was something in the car… it had to be. "Alright, you guys get out 'n scope the place, I'll park this thing. They all opened their doors, I locked Jarrids. Several minutes passed before the doors were closed. "Alright." I locked all the doors. "What was with that sigh? Don't think I forgot." He looked at the floor, almost like he couldn't say anything. "Look, I've seen you sad, I've seen you quiet and stuff, but not like this. There really is something wrong."

He sighed and looked up at me. "It's just that..." I waited for the answer that I thought would come and never did. "I'm just so happy this is all happening! Sure some of the people we knew and thought were alright probably died or are going to die, but now we can look fantastic for great prices!" I looked at him like he was a complete psycho. Then, finally, after a minute, I spoke. "You know what? Me too. It'll be so fun to wear the clothes I want for free. And it won't be stealing! Not that I cared about stealing, but they can't stop me!" For another moment I thought of every place I would have to go, then I wondered why I was thinking about shopping. "Wait... we should probably go in now, huh?" He nodded and so did I. "Let's go." We jumped out and grabbed sniper rifles. "Alright you stay on this side, I'll go to the right. We open at the same time." I whispered. Another moment and the doors opened on their own. With all that had gone on that day, I thought of something incredibly strange that may happen, something which almost completely confused me. The doors opened outward, so for the next few seconds, we were blind. Nothing happened and after a moment Jarrid peeked around the door, I signaled him to get back. At last, Eric walked out with his hands up, everyone else behind him but Desiree who was in the car and Courtney's mother, still in the truck. The people from the church lined my friends up in front of the church. One of the shorter boys turned, and I found that I knew who he was. This was Erick. Someone I knew from school. I radioed Jarrid, "I'm going to walk out, stay hidden." As I spoke one of the church people did as well and didn't seem to hear me, so I was safe.


	6. Chapter 6

I set my gun against the wall, completely hidden. Everything that would be threatening to them was left behind. As the people began to yell louder, I walked out slowly. "E-Excuse me…" One turned and shot, barely missing me. The one I had recognized immediately remembered me as well.

"Well, it looks like you have survived. Are they with you, or are you alone?" He was terrifyingly strict and serious, a side of him I had never seen.

"They are indeed with me. No need to worry. The cars that pulled up, Courtney was driving." Then it suddenly occurred to me. "And why are you threatening the people you know, we are your friends. I am fully aware that you don't know who Eric is, but why them?" Shame washed over his face and he looked down, seeing my 'shame on you' look.

"I know I'm sorry. I didn't know if they were right or not. There was one person who seemed normal but suddenly changed. I didn't want to risk their lives like that." His family stood in the background, pretending to be as helpless as possible, guns in their hands. I closed my eyes, sighed and relaxed my shoulders. "Well...?" He walked towards me. "Are you _sure_ your friends are alright?" I smiled, trying to keep the situation calm, his family didn't look stable in the situation.

"Yes. They have been with me the whole time, no worries. And even if something were to happen, I would take full responsibility and destroy them myself." I barely kept from choking on my last words, trying to be confident.

"Alright, would you like to come inside?" My mind raced. I didn't know what to do but I knew we had to keep moving. "No, I'm sorry. To keep them safe we must move as much as we can, who knows what other ones are out there…" Silence fell upon the both of us, the situation at hand not very promising. "Would you… come with us? I would hate to worry about you and at some point this place will run out of resources." He nodded, understanding fully that what he wanted was not exactly what would keep everyone safe. "You can think about it for a while if you'd like. We must go to the rather…" I wanted to say it politely, but didn't care anymore. "We have to go to the trash bin posing as a store over there." I pointed to the store.

"Will you return afterwards? We can talk then. If there is a leader yet among you, I'd like to speak with them, rather." I looked over to my father, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"I am the leader here. We can speak, yes." Erick nodded.

"Please let go of them. They have done no wrong and are healthy." He turned back to me. "Will you bring medicine for them?" He held out a sheet of paper. Before I took it from his hands, I bowed and looked it over.

"There are many things here that… I don't know if that place will have some of them."

"Please look. If not we can go to a pharmacy." His eyes were dark and determined. A threat almost manifested itself.

"Is there something you would like to tell me or can I go in peace now?" My tongue sharp, my look upon him grew into its own threat.

"You can go, there is nothing that stops you." I nodded.

"Good."


	7. Chapter 7

I walked back to the car. "We'll return when we return." I gave him a warm smile.

"You do that." I turned it on and headed out. This was the me that lives in a zombie apocalypse. I killed my mother a few hours ago and I am now protecting a whole band of people, and I'm not showing a single tear of remorse. Nothing wrong here. The parking lot was empty, a few cars dotting it.

"Well boys, it looks like we're gonna have some fun." I lightly laughed.

"Really? A movie pun?" I shrugged. I picked up the walkie talkie and spoke. "Courtney, park next to me. We're going in through the grocery side." She answered.

"_Alright."_ As I turned off the car, I looked around. There were a few walking around, it wouldn't be hard to get through them, but none the less it would slow us down.

"There aren't very many so grab your guns, just in case. Rachael, help Eric with Desiree, I don't want to leave her alone. When we get inside we'll need to sober her up." Rachael nodded. "And put Sam in a cart or something. I don't want to leave him here either." I got out and gestured to Courtney. "How is your mother?" She looked down.

"She's better. Not so rattled but I'm still worried." I nodded.

"Alright, well don't let her see Desiree and be careful, we don't want to lose her." The way inside was clear, none of them saw us going through. There were more inside than we thought, however. Ten were in the entrance. "Be careful! Don't call much attention to yourself!" I knew yelling wasn't helping and my human instinct wasn't very smart. "Alright, lets hurry. We'll have some time to look for things for ourselves later. Right now it's the important things, I'm going to go find the stuff on this list." I walked away, my hand on my knife, although most of them weren't very good with weapons I knew I would have to save my ammunition for them until I could teach them. I walked past the first isle of pills and to the counter. I jumped over and looked for the pills I knew would only be prescription. Luckily, they were all there, it must have been a big month for the old bastards. The rest was stuff like pain pills and gauze.

_I closed my eyes and thought of what to do. Eric, practical as he was, was helping everyone find things that would be useful to us, of course they were free to find what they wanted as long as they also found the keys to a car. As unlikely as that sounded, Rachael found keys in a purse, and the car. Before I was even out of the pharmacy she told me she found a large Ford but didn't think to look at what kind it was. "I parked it by the rest of ours." She seemed calm about it, and assured me that she took her gun and moved everything into the car, the whole time undisturbed, all I could do was offer her a worried look._

_"Well, I can't tell you what to do but I can ask you to be more careful, please?" She nodded._


	8. Chapter 8

_"I'm going to go look for some warm clothes and stuff. At least I don't have to pay for the crap."_

_"Yea…" She walked away, leaving me with my thoughts, so I turned on my mp3 and listened to music. I began walking down an isle full of, at the time, Halloween decorations. Me, myself, have a very fixed love for the cheap decorations and couldn't help but to take some of the merchandise. I took a package of ripped drapery, nail polish, cheap face paint since the colors attracted my attention and a few fake black flowers. Suddenly my mind strayed to my grim morning. I stared, for a moment, at the row of face masks. I saw in vivid color my mother dying. The blood and flesh, her body hitting the floor. My eyes watered and I fell to my knees, covering my mouth. I was sick to my stomach, the knife I plunged into my grandmother was what killed my mother. The only thing I was happy about at that moment was the fact that I no longer had it. After my few years of life, having to comfort myself, I picked myself up and wiped my eyes, sniffing as the tears dried on my face. The noise of the music was getting to me so I turned it off and went on looking, I walked to the men's section of shirts._

_One had a skull and some other designs but there wasn't a small so I put it back. There was another black one that was my size, so I kept a hold of it, hoping not very many things would catch my eye, there was a limited amount of room. After a few minutes of looking I found myself only pampering my misery with shopping and ended up putting many of the things I picked up down. I was over at the jewelry side, looking at the cheap plastic and glass diamonds. A pair of earrings were particularly fanciful, so I put them on since I hadn't worn earrings, other than the one in my right ear, in a while and was surprised the wholes hadn't closed. In my selfish demeanor, I also found myself wanting to go to the mall, and since no one could tell us we couldn't, I suppose it was silly to feel bad about the feeling._

_Nothing seemed to ever stand out to me on the woman's side, so I grabbed three pairs of jeans and a shirt or two, Halloween themed. Finally finished, after looking at shoes, perusing the sewing section, looking through movies and picking up useful gear for the cars like chains and antifreeze, I found everyone relaxing in the in-store McDonalds. To me, it was a disgusting place of grease and _fat people. "Ah, so I guess you were done a while ago." Eric shook his head.

"Nah, some of 'em just wanted one of the smoothies, so I figured out how to make one for 'em." I nodded my head indifferently and matter-of-factly.

"So, what are we doing now?" Courtney shrugged.

"I kinda want to go to the mall." Jarrid slunk down in the chair blushing. I looked at him and laughed.

"Well, I got some chains for the cars and antifreeze, did anyone else grab stuff for the cars?" Eric nodded.

"Yea, I got some stuff and we could go to a shop and pick up other equipment."

"Ok. Sounds good, man."

Later, back in the car, I looked at Jarrid in the passenger seat. "Ok, radio check." He nodded and picked it up.

"Rachael, you got yours working?" Response. "Courtney?" Positive response. I breathed out in relief, they would all work, and they charged by the car but also took battery in case the car was off or died. I looked back at Eric.

"So, we stop at the church and then to the mall. Are we gonna stay with them at the church tonight? It'll be awful late when everyone is done." He shrugged.

"Doesn't matter to me, I'll just look around at game stop or something. I nodded.

"Alright." I picked up the radio. "Everyone cool with the plan? We stop off at the church and then we can go to the mall." Desiree burst out on the radio from inside Rachael's new car.

"We can go to the movies too. I know how to work the whole thing."

"Well, we can do that tomorrow. It may get too late and I don't want everyone out in the dark."

"That's ok, I just wanted to see the new movie." At that moment I noticed how calm we all were. Like this situation wasn't happening. We were talking about going to the mall and watching a movie. But then, I thought, we were young, that's what young people do, they know how to have a good time when times aren't so good. I instantly wondered as I drove back to the church about where we would stay, where would we live. It had to be someplace close to gas pumps and stores, considering everyone loved to shop. Then I figured we could live in many different places. Then I thought of all the things that would pile up, but things get old, that was what next came into my mind. No one would want to keep many things for long. I suddenly hoped this would end soon, and that everything would get back to normal. At the same time, I loved what was happening. No rules, everyone was free to do what they wanted. There was no one to stop them. The parking lot of the church sneaked up and I turned in. Erick was waiting outside, and walked up to the car as I parked to greet me.

"Well, you didn't take very long, I was talking to everyone about leaving and traveling with you."

"What did you agree upon?"

"We would like to come along." I smiled and got out to hug him.

"I'm very glad that I'll be able to see you every day. We decided to go to the mall and possibly see a movie. Would any of you like to come?" He shook his head.

"I need to stay here and take care of my family." I nodded and handed him the bag of medicine. "Oh, thank you. I'm glad you found it all." I smiled and gave him another hug.

"You're welcome. Anything to help a friend."


End file.
